Alt Fuels
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It's pretty difficult to feel sorry for oil companies. Why should we? They're in control of a resource we all depend upon, one way or another, and can essentially charge whatever they like for it. As a result, they make massive profits every year. Nobody pities the rich guy. But maybe we feel a little sorry for them in this case. Why? Because last year, reports The New York Times, companies that supply motor fuel paid $6.8 million in penalties to the EPA for not mixing a special type of biofuel - that doesn't exist - into their gasoline and diesel. Call us crazy libertarians if you will, but...
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Renewable Fuel Standards Fall Far Short Of Non-Corn Ethanol Goal
The Environmental Protection Agency released its 2012 Renewable Fuel Standards on December 28, a month after they were due and with a drastically lower target for the amount of ethanol derived from non-corn sources than Congress originally called for four years ago. The new renewable fuel standards...
Talking Points Memo -
First Responder Smart Phone App Helps In Green Car Crashes
For first responders, helping deal with the aftermath of a car crash is a common occurrence. But while dealing with crashed gasoline cars is an everyday event for firefighters, police officers and paramedics, crashes involving plug-in, hydrogen and other green cars are relatively rare. As a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Truck Stop Natural Gas May Spur On Alt-Fuel Car Adoption
Natural gas has forever been a "nearly" fuel. While offering several advantages over gasoline or diesel, such as low cost of refueling, HOV-lane stickers in California and cleaner running, the disadvantages are even greater. One of those has been the availability of natural gas, limiting its...
Antony Ingram -
Congress Actually Ends Taxpayer Funding Of Ethanol Subsidies
When the U.S. Congress adjourned for the holidays on Friday, December 23, its departure sealed the fate of subsidized ethanol production. During its session, the Congress did not renew a tax break for U.S. production of corn-based ethanol that had become increasingly unpopular across a wide area of...
John Voelcker -
E85 Now Harder To Find Than Electric Car Charging: Here’s Why
Despite millions of dollars of commitment from automakers like Ford and General Motors, finding somewhere to fill your flex-fuel car with E85 is now officially harder than finding somewhere to recharge a plug-in car. In fact, according to Bloomberg, the number of electric car charging stations in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Honda has been the only carmaker to offer a natural-gas powered passenger car, and they've done it quietly in a handful of states for more than a decade. But with the arrival of an all-new Civic this year, the company will make the 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas available through selected dealers across much of the U.S. During the Los Angeles Auto Show two weeks ago, we were able to test a brand-new model of the 2012 natural-gas powered Civic. Cheaper fuel, lower emissions, at a price Our overall impressions were that it was very much a "regular" 2012 Honda Civic to live with, but with less...
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Jay Leno Shows Stunning Hand-Built Natural-Gas Retro Racer
We may be having a natural-gas moment. Next week, we'll test-drive a 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas, the only factory-built passenger car sold to retail buyers that runs on compressed natural gas. We drove its predecessor, the Honda Civic GX, last year. Now noted auto collector and fan Jay Leno (he...
John Voelcker -
It's A Gas: Ecofriendly LLC Develops Home Natural Gas Pump
Natural gas vehicles aren't particularly common on U.S. roads, and with relatively cheap and plentiful gasoline, it's fairly clear why. Pumps are few and far between and only the 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas gives private buyers an option over gasoline or diesel. If you had the chance to fill at...
Antony Ingram -
Natural Gas Vehicles Expected To Expand Share, Outside U.S.
Which alternate vehicle or fuel do you know least about? You've almost surely heard about hybrids. You may have seen ethanol, even biodiesel, debated in the news. And if you read this site, you're likely to know that cars that plug into grid power to recharge their battery packs are now on sale...
John Voelcker -
2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas Sedan Priced At $26,905, Cleanest Combustion Car Sold
Honda released the bulk of its 2012 Civic range this spring, but one model lagged behind: the Civic Natural Gas, the all-new version of what had been called the Civic GX. As the new name indicates, the 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas runs solely on compressed natural gas. It's the only natural-gas...
John Voelcker -
Homebrew 6-HP Motorcycle Sets Biodiesel World Speed Record
Combine a whole bunch of parts from motorcycles, go-karts, industrial machinery, and even generators, and what do you get? In John Petsche's case, he not only built a motorcycle that runs on store-bought vegetable oil, he managed to take home a world speed record for the 350cc Alternate Fuel class...
John Voelcker -
The Ford Transit Connect, in both gasoline and CNG versions, has begun deployment for taxi duty from coast to coast.
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Scientists Discover Microbes That Turn Newspaper Into Biofuel
Tulane University researchers have discovered a strain of bacteria capable of producing butanol directly from cellulose, which could help pave the way towards using trash to produce biofuel.
Kurt Ernst -
Obama's Biofuels Announcement Encouraging, Challenges Remain
In the middle of his much-publicized bus tour into the nation's agricultural heartland on Tuesday, President Obama announced a new initiative to kickstart the U.S. biofuel industry, which among other things would create more jobs for rural communities in the biofuel production chain. The...
Talking Points Memo -
World Solar Challenge: 1,900 Miles, Much Sun, No Air Conditioning
The World Solar Challenge pits the cutting edge of aerodynamics and solar power systems against the great outback of the land down under.
George Parrott -
5,000 Hydrogen Stations By 2020, For Forklifts, UPSes & Cars
We don't hear so much about hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles these days. Just five years ago, before the announcement of either the 2011 Nissan Leaf battery electric car or the 2011 Chevy Volt range-extended electric, several auto companies were in the process of developing test fleets of...
John Voelcker -
Racing Goes Green: ALMS Focused On Reducing Environmental Impact
The American Le Mans Series is taking steps to promote renewable fuels and alternative fuel sources. Series president Scott Atherton is out to prove that racing can produce environmental benefits.
Kurt Ernst -
Ah, ethanol, that most political of alternative fuels. Farmers love it, deficit hawks hate it, automakers want it for flex-fuel CAFE credits but nowhere else, and environmentalists only want it if it doesn't suck up food supplies, use too much water, or worsen the carbon balance. Yesterday, EPA officials came out swinging against a hale of criticism from carmakers and Senators over the impending arrival of E15 gasoline. What IS "science-based"? The director of the agency's office of transportation and air quality, Margo Oge, stressed the EPA's extensive research into any potential impacts of...
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Did U.S. Senate Cut Deal To End Ethanol Subsidies After All?
Almost three weeks ago, the U.S. Senate voted to end subsidies for production of ethanol, the alternative fuel that is largely refined from domestically-grown corn. At the time, conventional wisdom had it that this was a safe move. Because the subsidies were attached to a stalled economic...
John Voelcker -
E15 Gas Warning Label Coming Soon To Pumps Near You, Maybe
They're not pretty, but they should catch your attention. Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency issued its design for a warning label to be placed on so-called pumps that dispense the new gasoline blend, which contains a higher ethanol content. Although the legal status of E15 gasoline may...
John Voelcker -
Lots Of Orders For Yo Russian Natural-Gas Hybrid, Prokohorov Says
According to Russian billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, the company building a new natural-gas hybrid car known as the Yo now has orders stretching out as far as 10 years into the future. The business magnate, investor, and former basketball player told satellite TV channel Russia Today...
John Voelcker -
Compressed-Air Car Proponents Losing Faith
Licensees of the much-hyped AirPOD minicar are pressing for results from Motor Development International, the Luxembourg-registered firm behind the compressed-air-powered vehicle. In recent postings to their websites and coverage by European news sources, some of MDI's partners are now openly...
IEEE Spectrum -
U.S. Senate Votes To End Ethanol Subsidies; They'll Continue Anyhow
The once-unthinkable actually happened last Thursday: The U.S. Senate voted 73-27 to abolish a 45-cents-per-gallon subsidy to the U.S. ethanol industry. Immediately. Because the amendment to end ethanol credits is attached to a stalled economic development bill, however, it will have little...
John Voelcker